myself again for thanking him. He was the one who’d caused my discomfort in the first place. I wasn’t my usual tough self when I talked to this being. His power bore down on me, too great for me to think straight, let alone carry an intelligent conversation.
My nerves were strung out, but to show him that I wouldn’t let him intimidate me, I straightened my spine, my dagger flashing before me, only to realize how silly it was to display the magical dagger in front of such power. It was a toothpick to him.
“You’re welcome,” he said, smiling enigmatically.
“Uh, let’s review what I said earlier,” I murmured, gazing up into his eyes, as if being compelled by him to look. But I didn’t fall into their endless depths and lose my soul as I’d dreaded.
In fact, I just got used to his power, for it became somehow familiar. He drew me in like a magnet as a dark part of me surfaced to answer the echo of his supremacy.
You were lost for too long. I read the meaning in his unfathomable eyes.
After summoning enough courage, I threw out my next demand. “Hey, I didn’t call you. I was hoping to talk to Asmodeus. Maybe you could help get him here?” I then added in a hurry, “Please?”
“Why do you need Asmodeus when you can have me?” he said, his eyes laughing now. It seemed he enjoyed conversing with me, but the feeling wasn’t mutual. He still unnerved me. I could tell that by the cold sweat breaking out on my palms. I tried damn hard not to wipe them dry on my pants. “Asmodeus is one of my minions.”
I blinked. So this was indeed Lucifer. Only one being outranked the dark prince of Hell, and that was the King of Hell. Asmodeus held the rank of prince, yet he wasn’t Lucifer’s son. They were fallen angels of different ranks.
“Asmodeus has been sneaky and naughty lately,” said the King of Hell. “For his ambitions, he has been stripped of his dark prince title. He’ll repent long and hard in the seventh dungeon in the realm of Hell.”
I dared not ask where the seventh dungeon was located.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said. I might even mean it, since I was mournful that Asmodeus couldn’t come and provide intel for me.
“Don’t be.” Lucifer flashed a white smile. “He desired to use you and make you his pawn while I was away having another quarrel with Heaven.”
I stopped myself before I could ask him how his quarrel with Heaven had gone. I should mind my own business, and now, I urgently needed to get more intel on the Wild Hunt and my evil sister.
Anxiety knotted my stomach as I started to feel my mates’ panic through our mating bond. They must have realized that I had left Claws, Fangs, and Fiends.
“I’m probably the most misunderstood being in Heaven and Hell.” He stared at me intently, and I wanted to squirm under the powerful laser beam of his attention. “While the Church calls me Father of Lies, they feed their sheep the doctrine that the puny humans are God’s only chosen, and that I’m so jealous of them being the chosen that I devote every second of my time to countering God’s moves and trying to steal human souls. It’s laughable to see a mote of dust claiming to be the center of the universe. Humans need to feel like they are significant and that there’s meaning and great purpose to their existence, so they lie to themselves and make up stories. The truth is, I don’t give a rat’s ass about their stupid, dim souls.”
“You sound a bit bitter,” I said.
He gave me a look.
I forced myself to stand rooted.
Mythology said Lucifer had once been the brightest Morning Star and was now the darkest being after his fall from grace.
“Mom likes to go to church,” I said, looking slightly guilty. “But I’m not really religious. I don’t usually pay attention to what people say, either. Uh, Lu…Sir Lucifer, I’d love to chat more under different circumstances, but I’m in a hurry. I was hoping to get Asmodeus to tell me more about Brigantia, the current Dawn Queen, and altogether a terrible person. I need to find her weak spots. She’s about to thrust me into the Wild Hunt to finish me off, and I want to make it out of the hunt in one piece, since I’m still young and there’s so